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TSP? Maybe ... FERS? No!

What do President Barack Obama and Florida Republican Senator Marco
Rubio have in common? Answer in a moment. But first, this mea culpa which is
Latin for Duh! or, if you prefer, my bad!

Federal News Radio carried the correct story on Rubio's proposal yesterday

But I missed the boat.

I ruined part of some people's day on Wednesday when I said that
Rubio, one of the front-runners for the 2016 GOP race for the nomination, would
propose opening up the federal retirement program to nonfederal workers. I got an
advanced peek at the proposal, but I peeked at the wrong part.

Rubio isn't advocating opening the FERS program to nonfeds. What he apparently
does want is to give nonfederal workers the option of participating in the federal
Thrift Savings Plan. The TSP is Uncle Sam's in-house 401(k) plan. It is now
limited to active and retired federal and military personnel. People who leave the
government or military for other jobs can keep their TSP accounts, but they cannot
add to them.

David Snell, director of retirement benefits for NARFE, said Rubio's
plan "would probably be a lot like President Obama's proposed myIRA, in that
workers would be able to contribute to a federally sponsored/backed 401(k) type
retirement plan. But Rubio's plan allows all workers to specifically invest in
the federal TSP that was established for federal workers."

Snell said the Rubio plan does not provide for a basic FERS-like annuity.
Nonfederal workers "would still have to contribute to Social Security for monthly
retirement benefits at retirement," he said.

The majority of current participants, workers under the FERS retirement
plan, get an automatic 1 percent government contribution to their accounts. Those
who contribute at least 5 percent toward their accounts get matching contributions
from the government — dollar-for-dollar on the first 3 percent and 50 cents
on the dollar up until 5 percent.

The FERS program was set up in the 1980s to replace the old Civil
Service Retirement System. CSRS retirees get a defined benefit annuity that is
more generous than the FERS plan that replaced it. But they don't get any
matching contributions to their TSP accounts, and they don't qualify for Social
Security based on their federal service.

The original plan for FERS would have eliminated any federal annuity and based
retiree benefits on Social Security and investments in the TSP. That was
considered too radical at the time, so a reduced federal (FERS) benefit was
included. Since that time, many private-sector companies have dropped defined
benefit plans for employees, instead offering them 401(k) investment options.
Many companies do not match employee contributions at any level.

Here's what David A., a Baltimore-based fed, has to say on the subject:

"We are moving, as a nation, to retirement packages of Social Security and what
people can stuff into the crapshoot known as the stock market. It is not a pretty
picture. If the politicians were thoughtful, they would be championing defined-
benefit packages. Fat chance."

The castle that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula is on the market. The
Bran Castle — as it's officially known — is located near Brasov,
Romania and is currently owned by the Hapsburg royal family. The castle, which
has 57 rooms but apparently no bathrooms, is Eastern Europe's biggest tourist
attraction.

Concerns over
quality continue to plague OPM's background investigations
The Office of Personnel Management has made tremendous progress clearing the
backlog of background investigations and meeting strict new timelines mandated by
Congress. But some critics now worry too much focus has been put on speed, and not
enough attention has been given to quality. In our special report, Questioning
Clearances, Federal News Radio examines why efforts to measure the quality of
background investigations have stalled.

OPM restarts awards program for
senior executives
OPM will accept nominations for the 2014 Presidential Rank Awards through June 5,
according to a memo to the heads of federal agencies from OPM Director Katherine
Archuleta. Last year, the Obama administration canceled the awards program, which
recognizes members of the Senior Executive Service for extraordinary service,
citing tight budgets.